You Didn’t Build That

3 responses to “You Didn’t Build That”

1. Nickgb | July 19, 2012 at 2:28 pm | Reply

   Or, as Sir Newton put it: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”. Which, incidentally, is EXACTLY what the President was saying.

   • Pino | July 19, 2012 at 2:58 pm | Reply

     Or, as Sir Newton put it: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”. Which, incidentally, is EXACTLY what the President was saying.

     I’ve heard that same analysis from my liberal friends. And I disagree.

     If Obama was making THAT point, he would have used examples of those giants. He would have said that we are where we are because of our sense of cooperation and reliance on those who’ve come before us. Those enterprising souls that invented the transistor, the assembly line and the combustion engine. We’re where we are because of other individuals in the past, each relying yet again on THEIR predecessors success, hard work, innovation and risk taking.

     If Obama made that point, you’d have a stronger argument.

     But he didn’t make that point. He made the point that the rich have to pay their fair share. He made the point that there are a lot of wealthy Americans who agree with him, that they wanna give something back. And then he went on to point out that it’s government who got us where we are. Roads and bridges and dams and moons and internets.

     Obama is a big government champion. He thinks that it’s not fair that the wealthy are that wealthy and that they, and only they, should “give something back.”

     I will grant you one point. The clip where Obama says, “If you own a small business, you didn’t build that.” In this simple statement, the “that” is referring to the infrastructure and roads he just brought up. The “that” is not referring to the business that the “you” built.

     However, it’s my belief that Obama would agree with the statement as it’s being portrayed; that he really does think that people who own businesses didn’t build them on their own.

     And I think that’s a crazy thing to think.

2. Alan Scott | July 19, 2012 at 7:58 pm | Reply

   Pino ,

   It’s funny how Nickgb and other liberals are all confused about what President Obama meant, yet if you watch the video and listen to Obama’s inflections and the crowd’s reactions, it is clear that the audience knew exactly the intended meaning .